


Under One Condition

by ElizaStyx



Series: Christmas OTP Challenge [3]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Christmas Dinner, Christmas Eve, Christmas OTP Challenge, Crack, Forgive me for I have sinned, Humour, I am terribly sorry, I should probably write a letter of apology to Mariah Carey, I'm joking, M/M, Music, i'm not sorry at all, okay, toppy Will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-27 22:37:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2709233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizaStyx/pseuds/ElizaStyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hannibal has invited Will for a Christmas dinner and Will expected it to be a typical classy Hannibal-styled event but the atmosphere is... definitely different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under One Condition

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #13 Listening to/playing festive music or caroling

Will was sitting by the stuffed table totally lost in his thoughts. Hannibal had let him in and disappeared in the kitchen to give the main dish a final touch. Maybe Will should have felt strange spending this particular evening with the psychiatrist but Hannibal had asked him to come in such a way he really wasn't able to say no.

And honestly it felt good, knowing that someone actually wanted to spend this evening with him.

Everything on Hannibal's table seemed to be perfect as always, aesthetic and deliciously smelling in its beauty but... something was missing.  
The atmosphere was slightly different from the usual one despite the fact that the room looked exactly as Will remembered it. He found this lack of unidentified ingredient highly disturbing so he was sitting there, fidgeting until Hannibal came back with a hot cast iron utensil that contained some fish freshly taken out of the oven.  
"Traditional polish carp." he announced cheerfully, surprising Will. "The core meal of Christmas Eve on every polish table, a true symbol of Christmas."

Will went into a full stupor. Hannibal's attire was even more shocking than his tone. It was suggesting some general relaxation despite its formality, especially in additon to some unusal messiness of Hannibal's hair and the... naturalness of it all.  
Will blinked few times, observing him with a growing surprise. He watched his movements with big eyes, ignoring tastefully looking fish and cabbage that landed on his plate.

Hannibal sat down on his chair and eventually noticed Will's strange behaviour.  
"Is something wrong, Will?" he asked with what seemed to be sincere worry.  
"Something's missing." Will looked at him with a serious expression.  
Instead of answering, Hannibal just stared at him for a while in silence before he smiled. "It's just the music. I forgot to put it on."

Will felt somehow embarassed for not being able to place such a simple problem himself, observing Hannibal raise from behind the table and approach the stereo.  
Few clicks later the first notes resounded in the room and it took Graham a while to proceed what he was hearing.

Hannibal Lecter was playing Mariah Carey in his sophisticated dining room.

It was so extremely unfitting that it was even more scary than ridiculous.

And Hannibal was smiling.

Will's jaw dropped at the sight of Lecter actually **making a tiny whirl** and sitting down, as if nothing unusual had just happened.  
"Better now, Will?" he asked innocently.  
Will gave him a haunted look.  
"Christmas Eve is the best time to feel festive, my friend." Hannibal said with his calssical explanatory tone enriched by unexpected joy. "We all need at least a little change from time to time."  
"But..." Will opened his mouth and then closed it, clenching his jaw.  
"I needed to create the right atmosphere and it is a perfect occasion, Will." suddenly Hannibal was back to his usual seriousness.  
"Why, Hannibal?" Will felt slightly less unsure, dealing with Hannibal he knew. "You are not religious or...?"  
"I am not but I figured out that being cliche may help my dealings." Hannibal absently took a sip of his wine. "You are not a person used to cliches though."  
"Dealing with horrendous murders daily?" Will chuckled sadly. "Nah, I don't think so."  
The silence fell between them, letting the music be heard.

"Mariah Carey isn't halfly as bad as I expected." Hannibal looked a bit lost in his thoughts before he turned to Will again. "Do you know why I invited you over?"  
"I can make guesses." Will cocked his head, smiling ironically.  
"What are they?" Hannibal looked at him with real interest.  
"You are testing me." Will raised his glass too. "You want to see what I'm reading into it."  
"And what is there for me to see?" Hannibal's smirk was smug.  
"That I saw through the externals and understand that you are hiding your nervousness behind an atypical choice of music trying to draw my attention to it." Will exhaled deeply.  
"This leaves one more unanswered question." Hannibal went into full psychiatrist mode, moving his chair away from the table to face his interlocutoe. "Why could I possibly be nervous?"  
"It's pretty simple, to be honest. You want us to be something more than co-workers, patient and his doctor, friends or whatever we are now." there was no hesitation in Will's voice.

Hannibal didn't respond to that assumption, his face blank apart from his everpresent sly smile.  
A while had passed with the next holiday hit they didn't pay attention to playing in the background and their gazes locked.  
Finally Hannibal cocked his head slightly.  
"Isn't this what **you** want, Will?" he asked.  
Will lowered his head for a moment and when he raised it back up, his eyes were different, burning with some sort of dangerous determination.

One fast movement allowed him to find himself bending over Hannibal and looking him in the eyes from up close, searching for any signs of resent only to find that Hannibal was just purely fascinated, his unmoved posture strangely annoying in Will's humble opinion.  
"It is." Will growled, cupping Hannibal's face firmly with an animal rapacity. "But only if you promise you'll never play that music again."

Hannibal Lecter didn't have an occasion to admit that he actually had had similar plan himself anyway, since Will fiercely closed the gap between them so succesfully disabling his eloquence that he had no other choice than to settle for a silent groan of approval.  
It was surprisingly fine by him.

**Author's Note:**

> All comments and kudos are very much appreciated :D  
> Find me on [tumblr.](http://the-rising-demonmistress-of-styx.tumblr.com/)


End file.
